Governor Uba Sani Criticizes El-Rufai for Politicizing Insecurity in Kaduna

Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State has publicly criticized his predecessor, Nasir El-Rufai, accusing him of politicizing the ongoing insecurity in the state.

Speaking on Saturday during the presentation of Where I Stand — a book written by the late Sheikh Abubakar Mahmud Gumi and translated into Arabic by Sheikh Ibrahim Jalo Jalingo — Governor Sani emphasized that military force alone cannot solve the problem of banditry.

His comments come in response to El-Rufai’s remarks during a television interview on August 31, where the former governor dismissed what he called a “misguided non-kinetic” strategy for tackling insecurity. El-Rufai had alleged that the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) was facilitating ransom payments and providing incentives to bandits.

“What I will not do is pay bandits, give them monthly allowances, or send them food. Non-kinetic is nonsense. We are empowering bandits. That’s what is going on,” El-Rufai had said. “My position has always been that the only repentant bandit is a dead one. Let’s wipe them out, bomb them, reduce them to nothing. And then the five percent that still want to be rehabilitated can be rehabilitated.”

In a sharp rebuttal, Governor Sani argued that the roots of banditry lie in deeper social and economic issues such as poverty, unemployment, and the neglect of rural areas.

“Insecurity cannot be solved solely by using firearms. Anyone who claims otherwise is only playing politics,” Sani said. “We must fear God and stop misleading the people. That approach has failed and will continue to fail.”

The exchange marks a rare public disagreement between the current and former governors, highlighting growing divisions over how best to address the state’s complex security challenges.